daily morning and evening meditations

11/04/2013

Evening Prayer November 5, 2013

Mercy, turn us back toward one another who are in need, back toward the neediness of this earth, back toward what we ourselves need - more love, more hope, more generosity, and more wisdom. Mercy, turn us back toward one another who are in need, and let us cast no one aside. Do not let us rest easily when there are those who yet hunger, those who yet flee for their lives and have not found a safe harbor or welcome yet, those who mourn and need comfort, those who travel the crumbling byways of despair and need safety and welcome and an assuring presence through this time of trial. Mercy, turn us back toward one another who are in need, and let us cast no one aside. For, even if we have only known need in little ways, surely we know how painful it is, how diminishing, how threatening to heart and spirit the dragging down of hope. Mercy, turn us back toward the neediness of this earth, and let us cast no part of it aside, content to call it unworthy of our attention, for it remains one part of a mighty and necessary whole. Do not let us rest easily when the earth is desecrated with our violence and our greed, when diminished with our best intentions that turn out imperfectly and end up causing harm, when there is yet a legacy needed of healing and restoration and renewal, and while depredations continue. Mercy, turn us back toward the neediness of this earth, and let us cast no part of it aside. For this is our home, all of it, and all of us dependent upon it. If we cast any of it aside, we cast aside others in need, diminish ourselves, threaten the resilience and beauty and needfulness of the whole. Mercy, turn us back toward one another who are in need, back toward the neediness of this earth, back toward what we ourselves need - more love, more hope, more generosity, and more wisdom - tonight and every night. Amen.